Category Archives: Conferences

The time has come for me to say goodbye to both you and this blog, at least for now. As many of you know this has been a completely volunteer effort with the goal being to encourage librarians from everywhere to travel and work beyond their borders. I spent fourteen years of my life doing just that and it enriched and expanded me both personally and professionally. While I still completely believe in this mission, it is time for me to focus on other goals in my life, although I am not yet clear exactly what will be next…

Register now! – you can pay now, or pay on-site! Join the hundreds of other librarians for great programs and great presenters! Your registration includes an invitation letter after you register; access to allconference programs in English and Arabic (simultaneous translation), posters, the Librarian’s Lounge, library exhibits, and the Sharjah International Book Fair; session recordings after the conference; certificate of participation after in-person attendance; lunches and coffee breaks.

demonstrate the power of global connectivity in classrooms, schools, institutions of informal learning and universities around the world

introduce others to the collaborative tools, resources and projects that are available to educators today

to focus attention on the need for developing globally competent students and teachers throughout the world

Global Collaboration Day will take place on September 15in participant time zones. Classrooms, schools, and organizations will design and host engaging online activities for others to join. Events will range from mystery location calls to professional development events to interviews with experts. All events will be collated in an online calendar viewable in participants’ individual time zones. Participants will be connected on Twitter via the hashtag #globaled16.

An optional new activity this year will be the Great Global Project Challenge. Between now and October 1, 2016, global educators will design collaborative projects using a variety of platforms in which other students and teachers may participate during the course of the 2016-2017 school year. The objective is to create and present as many globally connective projects for students and educators as possible. The final deadline for submissions into our project directory is October 1, but participants are also encouraged to do an introductory activity for their project on Global Collaboration Day as well.

Global Collaboration Day is a project of the Global Education Conference Network, a free online virtual conference that takes place every November during International Education Week. GCD, along with Global Education Day at ISTE and Global Leadership Week, are events designed to connect educators and keep global conversations going year round.

The roster of keynote speakers includes ALA President Julie B. Todaro, who will focus on “The Expert in the Library,” and Center for the Future of Libraries Director Miguel Figueroa, who will discuss societal trends and managing change in libraries.

But what happens when you transplant an ALA conference into an Arabic country? The answer: Conversations about reading, technology, children’s services, faculty research, user services, and library architecture become enriched by multinational perspectives. Diverse, lively exchanges are the best way to describe the ambiance of this event.

SIBF is emerging as the largest book fair in the Gulf. Sharjah Book Authority Chairman Ahmed Al Ameri is eager to provide professional development opportunities to library workers in the region and raise the visibility of libraries. He rightfully envisions the event as an innovative complement to the ever-growing book fair. “Our ongoing collaboration with ALA is helping us in our efforts to be an international leader among regional book fairs and allows us to promote our shared commitment to the love of the written word and its creation,” Al Ameri said in his welcome to conference attendees.

Registration is now open for the 2016 ALA Conference in Sharjah, and there is still time to submit a proposal for a poster session (the deadline is September 22). If you go, be sure to take advantage of the Librarians’ Lounge, a relaxing space to meet colleagues, hold small meetings, and take a break. ALA members will need their ALA ID numbers to register and get the member discount. If you are not an ALA member, email Delin Guerra at dguerra@ala.org to get a special number. Include your first name, last name, email address, and street address in the email.

Sarah P’s comments: When I began my international career in 1996 there were no organizations like this (the internet was in its infancy). It’s really great to see the library schools promoting more international cooperation and reaching across borders. I truly believe, having lived overseas for so long, that librarians are the diplomats of democracy and that the work of open information sharing is important for the development and equality of all.

The second of our three free Library 2.016 online mini-conferences: “Library as Classroom,” is coming up soon! Register now to join us on June 15th, 2016, from 12:00 – 3:00pm US-Pacific Time (click for your own time zone), or to be able to watch the recordings at your convenience. There will be an hour-long opening keynote panel, three half-hour blocks with multiple choices of practitioner presentations, and then a half-hour closing keynote (see below).

In A New Culture of Learning, authors Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown write, “Where imaginations play, learning happens.” This could and should define our services for now and in the future. The library as creative classroom means we approach the learning opportunities we create with thought, user-directed planning, and insights from research. This classroom may include physical spaces for instruction and discovery as well as online, multiscale platforms aimed at social learning and participation.

Libraries of all kinds serve as formal and informal creative classrooms, supporting learners by employing emerging strategies in learning and engagement. These include: play, collaborative exploration of ideas and technologies, and other innovations. There are notable examples of academic, public, and K-12 library spaces that have become creative classrooms. These feature community learning spaces to help learners achieve, game-focused initiatives that make the library a laboratory for exploration, creation zones with requisite digital and 3-D hardware for building things, and potentially endless opportunities to connect virtually with people worldwide.

The library as classroom requires inspired and insightful management that can do those things and more. The library as classroom also requires well-trained, user-focused staff who understand how people of all ages can learn socially. Art programs, DIY tinkering, locally sourced expert forums, and LOOCs (local open online courses) are all part of this ­curriculum.

This is a free event, being held online. Please register HERE to attend live or to receive the recording links.

Please also join this Library 2.0 network to be kept updated on this and future events.

Participants are encouraged to use #library2016 on their social media posts leading up to and during the event.

Sarah P’s comments: Another sharing opportunity for those attending this year’s annual ALA Conference in Orlando. This year’s theme seems to be ‘international’ which I think is both great and long overdue.

Do you have an international program at your library you’d like to discuss? Have you had an opportunity to integrate your library into your campus’ international agenda and you’d like to share your experiences? Are there issues or practices that you’ve found informed by work happening abroad?

If you have something to share with your colleagues on these, or any other internationally related topics, AND you’ll be physically attending ALA Annual in Orlando, please either email me directly or share with the list by Friday, May 20th. You will be notified by May 25th if your proposal has been accepted.

5.10.15 – In the upcoming weeks I am going to be spotlighting librarians with international experience who are planning on attending ALA 2016 and the Leaning Internatonal IRRT Program. We are creating a list so we can all learn a little about each other and to help connect before, during, and after the program. However this information is for all librarians everywhere so feel free to connect via the blog or write me an e-mail.

Since January, I’ve been working as the Academic Librarian at Northern Marianas College (NMC) on the island of Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). I’m still learning “how things work” on the island and within the College itself, but I’m continuing to dig into this opportunity, full force, and I am thrilled beyond measure to be here.

Broadly, I would describe myself as a musician and self-proclaimed “library nerd” with a bent towards the creative. I earned degrees in music from East Tennessee State University (B.M., Vocal Music Education, ’09) and New York University (M.M., Music Composition and Theory, ’11). More recently, I completed a Master’s in library and information science at the University of Tennessee’s School of Information Sciences, where my studies focused on academic librarianship (specifically related to music and the humanities), archives and records management, and digital curation.

I have provided information services for a variety of both federal and academic institutions, including the Library of Congress, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the University of Tennessee. Before coming to NMC, I served as the interim K-12 Instructional Librarian at the University School of Nashville, in Nashville, Tennessee.”

I have very high hopes of attending this year’s ALA meeting in Orlando. For me, the chance to personally meet you and others involved with the IRRT would be a tremendous opportunity to share and discuss alternative views of information work, connect with some like-minded professionals, and expand and strengthen myriad professional networks in the spirit of simply sharing information and learning / growing together.”